Skiing Arapahoe Basin

In the years when our whole family gets together for the Christmas holidays we try to get in a day or two of skiing. So yesterday my Dad, brother, a friend, and I headed to A-Basin. It wasn’t a photography trip, not at all, but I tend to take my camera with me everywhere, so of course it came down the slopes with me as well.

I used to live for skiing. In fact during High School and later in college, skiing was my top priority. I’d head for the slopes any chance I got which still wasn’t often enough. And while I still enjoy the fluid motion of the sport, the landscapes, and the crisp winter air, I don’t love it the way I used to. I’m not sure what happened, but somewhere in the past 10 years the gleam of skiing has faded. Possibly it’s from lack of participation. Did I lose my love of skiing and that caused me to not ski as much? Or did not skiing as much cause me to lose my love of skiing?

There is a lesson in there for photographers. Many are the amateur photographers who adopt the hobby with enthusiasm only to find a few months or years later that their cameras are gather dust on a closet shelf. The interest may return, and it may not. But like any art, if you don’t keep at it, quality suffers. I’ve gone through these periods myself, but I’ve learned to push through them, taking photos even when I don’t really want to. Reading a book on art or creativity when I’d rather pick up a Clive Cussler. If photography is your current passion, remember that advancing your images is as much work as fun.

So keep at it, and start your New Year with a few new images.

Here are some photos from yesterday: